20 Questions
by sookieandsamfan
Summary: How do you pass the time while dodging near-death experiences and looking for loved ones? Owen suggests he and Claire get to know each other better as an alternative to panicking as they search for Zack and Gray.


I'm just being inspired to write fanfics all over the place these days from my favorite TV shows and movies. Sorry to my fans who want me to finish up with other pieces. There is just too much bouncing around in my head.

So, I saw this movie over the weekend and loved it, especially the budding romance between Claire and Owen. I think the producer's approach to their love story was just right for the movie working to appeal to a wide audience, but it left me wanting a lot more. I plan to actually write more than one of these one-shots about these two, but here's the first one.

Hope you enjoy and reviews welcome. Please excuse any plot holes and liberties. I've only seen the movie once, so I might not have all the details correct. I own nothing, of course. Reviews welcome.

 **One-shot starts here...**

Claire's stomach was in knots – partly from the way the jeep bounced over the rough terrain of the park's outer fields (she admittedly didn't spend much time out here) but mostly from fear. Fear for the lives of her nephews; fear for the lives of everyone on the island; fear for her own life; and yes, fear for the life of the man driving her around right now. Owen Grady infuriated her on so many levels, but at the same time, she was willing to acknowledge, at least to herself, that she was not at all immune to his charm. His combination of intelligence, attractiveness, and pure bravery was not lost on her. He was stuck in the enclosure with the Indominus Rex – and they both knew he'd barely made it out alive. Yet, here he was helping Claire track down her nephews. _Oh Zack and Gray._ She prayed for their safety. Despite not knowing them as well as she should, she loved them dearly, and the idea of anything happening to them was too much to even contemplate. She didn't realize how much she was fidgeting or whispering to herself, "They'll be okay; they have to be okay," until Owen pulled her out of her reverie. "They will be okay Claire," he said in a way that was both calm and firm at the same time. "We'll find them." He then very gently reached over and squeezed her hand. It was so comforting, and she knew in her heart and mind that she was with the right person. If anyone could find them, save them, and keep them safe, it was Owen.

"Okay," she responded looking over to meet his eyes. "I know we will because we have to. Thank you." "You're welcome," Owen said gently. "I have an idea," he continued. "We've got another 20 minutes at least to the sight of the gyrosphere rides. Let's try to pass the time by not panicking," he suggested. "Okay," Claire responded. How could she argue with that? "What did you have in mind?" "Well, seeing as how we didn't actually learn very much about each other on our one and only date – I propose we play 20 questions." Claire was tempted to retort something like "Well's who's fault it that?" but she decided to let his comment about their date slide and instead said, "What's that?" "Well," Owen began explaining, "I ask you a question like 'What's your favorite color?' and you answer. If it's something simple like that, then I will answer too, then it's your turn. But, it can also be an open-ended question, like, 'Why is it that you find me so attractive?'" He grinned as he said that part and looked over at her. She couldn't help but smile. Though silly, he was already succeeding at getting her mind off impending doom, even if it was just for a moment, so she agreed to play along. "Okay, fine," she said sternly, "but I want veto power to ignore stupid questions like that." "You got it," he responded smirking. "Okay, I'll start out easy – so, what is your favorite color?" "Blue," Claire answered. "Cool," Owen said, "Mine's green. Now your turn." "Okay, let's see…" Claire said thinking to herself, "What's your favorite kind of pizza?" "Good one," Owen said back glancing as her while still paying attention to the terrain. "Hawaiian," he answered. "Hawaiian?" she said sounding surprised. "I would have taken you for a meat lovers kind of guy." "Well, just goes to show you don't know enough about me," he said giving her another toothy grin. She couldn't help but notice his infectious smile. "Well, mine is pepperoni and mushroom," she responded. "Yum," he answered smiling. After that, the questions continued, and they learned where each other was from, what kind of music they each liked, how many siblings they had, and so on. Mostly safe but interesting questions. Both were enjoying learning about the other, and it was much better than worrying about dying.

Finally – it was Owen's turn again, and they were on question number 19. "Let's make these final questions interesting," he said. Claire rolled her eyes and laughed. "Okay," he said after thinking a moment. "Tell me a secret." "That's not a question," she said defensively. "Will you please tell me a secret," he rephrased grinning. She shook her head and smiled at him. He was too much. She was, however, feeling in a super truthful mood. Feeling like you and your loved ones might die will do that to a person. "Okay," she said haltingly. "But only because I'm feeling particularly truthful right now." He nodded in agreement and said, "Of course," recognizing that she wanted him to be fully aware that this conversation was only happening because she was feeling vulnerable. No surprise from a control freak like her. He expected her secret to be something about how the triceratops were mixed with cow's genes or something equally benign. Instead, coming out of left field, and honestly surprising them both she said, "I lied to you earlier today back at your bungalow. I did want a second date with you, but when I learned that you didn't even really want a first date with me, I didn't bother trying. I knew I blew the date. I'm actually not great in one-on-one social situations, and to be honest you make me nervous. You make me feel out of control, and I hate feeling that way." She felt better after she said it, like a weight was lifted off her shoulder, but she was also embarrassed and her cheeks were flushed. Owen was stunned on so many levels. He couldn't believe she had admitted something so personal. He couldn't believe that she actually had wanted to go out with him again. _I make her feel out of control. Awesome,_ he thought to himself. But, most of all, he couldn't believe she thought he had never wanted to go out with her at all because that wasn't true.

 _Background info: Claire and Owen had been set up about six months ago by her assistant, Zara. It was a smaller island than you might think in terms of the number of employees and most of them were friends and hung out pretty regularly. Owen had seen and gotten to know Zara when he and Barry would hang out at local bars in the evenings or on weekends._

Owen processed the information as quickly as he could before formulating a coherent response. He looked at her as much as possible and smiled while still keeping his eyes on driving. "First, that's very sweet that you wanted a second date with me. Second, thank you for sharing something personal. And third, why on earth would you say that I didn't want to go out with you in the first place?" Claire already felt exposed, so she just answered him honestly. "Zara told me." "Zara?" Owen questioned. "Yes," Claire finished. "I knew I had made a horrible impression. Like I said, I was – am – really nervous around. So, I asked Zara if she thought you would go out with me again, like a do-over date. She sweetly disclosed that you had only gone out with me as a favor to her, so I knew a second date wasn't an option." "Why would she say that?" Owen asked. "I think she was trying to spare me the embarrassment, "Claire answered. "No, Claire," Owen said firmly. "You don't understand. I never said that." Claire paused to look at him more closely, and she knew immediately from his expression that he was telling the truth. "What do you mean?" she asked him. "Claire, I begged Zara to set me up with you," he answered. "You did?" she replied sounding and feeling shocked. She was being so honest with him – plus, there was that pink elephant in the car that they might die – so what did he have to lose? He was just as honest right back. "You have no idea the effect you had on me that day you came to see the raptor demonstration," he started. "I had seen you around the park, of course, but I have never really seen you in action up close. You were so beautiful and confident with those big wig executives, but the way you looked at me and smiled, I knew there was so much more to you, and I was dying to know find out what that was. And, those eyes. You have gorgeous eyes." When he said that, he looked right at her, and she smiled and blushed. "That night, I ran into Zara at the bar and grilled her about you. She told me you would probably say no, but I made her promise to at least ask you if you'd be willing to go out with me. After our," Owen chose his words carefully, "challenging first date, I asked her to get me a second chance with you. I could tell you were nervous, and I knew I acted like a jerk because I was nervous too. She told me that you were way too appalled by me and there was no chance," he finally finished.

Now it was Claire's turn to be stunned. The story sounded oddly familiar, but in reverse. When she saw him "up close and in action" as he had described it, she was immediately smitten. He was intelligent, respected, and not to mention, crazy hot. She had casually asked Zara the next day if she knew if he had a girlfriend. Zara said she would find out. Claire was now realizing that was after Zara knew that Owen was interested in her. When Zara said Owen did not have a girlfriend, she had asked Zara to set them up, which she had, and had seemed happy to do so. She vocalized these details to Owen leaving out a few of her own personal thoughts – like the crazy hot part.

"What the hell?" Owen said outloud. "Why would she do that to us? Does she have a grudge against you?" he asked.

"Not that I know of," Claire answered, "but clearly, I'm not the best at reading people," she admitted. "We've been friends for years. I'm not easy to work for but I treat her well. I pay her well. I don't know why she would do that unless…" Claire trailed off in thought. _Of course_ , she thought to herself. _She was smitten with Owen too._ "What?" Owen said realizing Claire was making sense of something. "She likes you," she responded. Owen took a minute to digest the information and pretty immediately realized she was right. If he looked back, he knew that Zara was being more than friendly with him and flirted with him, and then just when she thought she might have a chance, when he sought her out at the bar, it was to ask about Claire. _What a clueless idiot,_ he thought to himself. _I brought this on myself._

"Just so I'm clear," Owen started slowly. "What I'm hearing us both say is that we had a terrible first date because we were both so nervous about impressing each other, and the reason we didn't have a second date is because we were lied too." "I think that pretty much covers it," Claire responded. Then they both burst how laughing. What else could they do? "Why would she set up us in the first place then?" Owen asked. Claire thought about that for a minute then asked him, "Would it have stopped you is she had said she wouldn't do it?" They both already knew the answer, but Owen said, "Hell, no." Claire laughed. "That's why. I taught her too well. Setting us up allowed her to control the situation." They had been played like violins. "I tell you what," Owen said. "When we find those boys and get this mess cleared up, we are going to have that do-over date. Deal?" Claire smiled reveling in the sweetness and honesty of their admissions. "Deal," she said and just because she was feeling super honest followed up with, "another reason to survive." What did she have to lose right? He grinned. She was somehow happy for a moment, but the reality of his words and the thought of _survival_ brought her back to a state of sadness as well. "Your turn," Owen said. "Last question, number 20, though I'm not sure we could top that." Claire knew they were almost to the site of the where the ride would have taken the boys. Who knew what they might find there? She smiled but looked at him tenderly and said, "Are you scared?" Owen's heart nearly broke into at her question as he could hear the pain behind it. "I'm terrified," he said honestly. "But, I really do believe we are going to find those boys and make it out of here alive, okay?" "Okay," Claire responded, and she really wanted to believe him. She didn't stop there. "Owen," she began again looking over at him then reached out and put her hand on his leg gently squeezing it. "Thank you. I know you are risking your life to help me, and I can never repay you for that. You are good man." Owen melted at the sincerity of her words. "Thank you," he responded simply, and it was all he had to say. Claire removed her hand from his leg placing it back into her own lap and stared out the window wondering what dangers lay ahead.

Owen knew they were almost to their destination. He wanted to believe what he had told Claire, that everything would be okay, but in truth, he had no idea what they might find out there. He decided he couldn't let such a great conversation end on such a solemn note, especially since their future was so uncertain. He grinned as he decided what he was going to do next. "Claire?" he asked and she turned her face, which had been looking out the window, back toward him. "I know we got to 20, but will you let me ask just one more question?" "Sure," she said as if she could resist his smile. "When we make it out of here alive," he started very careful to say "when" not "if"…and then trailed off… "What?" Claire asked curiously raising an eyebrow. Owen stopped the car. They were right outside the woods they would be searching.

He started over, looking right in her eyes, and continued in a playful voice unable to control his smile, "When we make it out of here alive, will you have sex with me?" Claire could not help but laugh out loud. Owen had proved to be insanely unpredictable, and though she didn't know what she was expecting, that was certainly not what she thought he was going to say.

They both grinned. Owen expected her to answer with something along the lines of "no" or "in your dreams" or maybe just call him a bad name and refuse to answer. Instead, she said something that surprised him and rocked him to his core. "Absolutely!" she answered grinning, then hopped out of the car.

"Yep, there's another reason to survive," Owen said out loud to himself and quickly scrambled out of the car following after her.


End file.
